Program sets ambitious goal of free college tuition

Jun. 17, 2014
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Janice Brown, a board member for the Kalamazoo Promise, speaks as Robert Bartlett, president of the Michigan Colleges Alliance, listens during a news conference last week in Kalamazoo, Mich. / Mark Bugnaski, AP

by Mary Beth Marklein @mbmarklein, USAToday

by Mary Beth Marklein @mbmarklein, USAToday

Starbucks' announcement this week that it would pay tuition for some of its 135,000 employees to complete college reflects a broadening consensus that rising tuition and student loan debt is a growing problem for most Americans, not just the poorest.

A coalition calling itself Redeeming America's Promise announced a plan Tuesday to make tuition at a public university free for millions of U.S. high school students. Earlier this year, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced a plan to use state lottery proceeds to provide free tuition at community colleges for residents. Oregon's legislature is considering a similar move.

Most of the recent debate in Washington about college affordability has focused on tweaking the student loan program. Last week, President Obama announced an income-based loan repayment plan, and Republicans blocked a Senate proposal to allow borrowers to refinance at a lower rate. More congressional hearings on the issue are expected this month.

Details of plans promising free tuition vary, but the focus suggests to some that the current federal student aid system needs an overhaul. .

"We used to say the best way (to distribute grants) is to focus on the poorest people," says Sara Goldrick-Rab, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and co-author of a recent report recommending two years of college for free. "The whole notion of affordability and financial aid just doesn't seem to work anymore because of the sheer number of people" who need it.

Redeeming America's Promise, a coalition whose members include former governors, members of Congress and former Clinton administration officials, also aims to increase college attainment rates. Its American Promise Scholarship would be available to families with household incomes as high as $160,000.

"We want kids to go to college," says Harris Miller, a coalition co-founder and former head of an association of for-profit colleges. "We think what's happening is that more and more families are getting discouraged" and asking themselves whether "this is all worth it."

The plan was inspired in part by community-based scholarship programs that have benefited low-income families in Kalamazoo, Mich., and El Dorado, Ark. Those programs are funded by local philanthropists.

Redeeming America's Promise would redirect existing federal higher education support. For example, fewer families would claim a tuition tax credit or apply for Pell Grants, which the coalition estimates could shift more than $40 billion to the tuition plan. States would be encouraged to "do their part to restore their support for higher education," according to a report describing the plan. It also promised no new taxes.

American Promise Scholarships would require congressional approval. That's too long for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. His tuition plan, which covers employees, primarily juniors and seniors, who want to complete a degree in one of Arizona State University's online programs, begins this fall.